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| Testimony: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Anita Shreve
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $11.00
You Save: $14.99 (58%)
New (53) Used (31) Collectible (4) from $9.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 1304
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2
ISBN: 0316059862
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316059862
ASIN: 0316059862
Publication Date: October 21, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.
Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellinglyexplores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
If you can stomach the first chapter, it's an excellent book January 5, 2009
I had a tough time getting through the very graphic first chapter. After that I found the book very compelling and I couldn't put it down. I liked the author's use of different voices throughout the book. I think the book should have been named Consequences or Ripple Effects. It really makes you think how a few stupid decisions by a few individuals can alter the lives of so many people.
Sad Commentary January 1, 2009
While alcohol and sex were central to the story, Testimony is more about choice, accountability and the truth that nothing we do happens within a vacuum. Shreve uses the popular structure of multiple voices and while this is interesting, it might have been more effective if some of the more tangential comments had been eliminated. I found the book to be unsatisfying in its resolution (or lack thereof) and with the exception of Noelle, had no sympathy for or understanding of any of the characters. I believe that this was the author's intent rather than being indicative of flawed writing. As individuals and as a society, we tend not to reflect adequately on our experiences or acknowledge our contribution to a negative outcome. The tragedy of this story is not what happened but what did not.
rotating voices December 31, 2008
A very sexually graphic event starts off this book; three teenage boys have sex with a fourteen year old girl and it is videotaped. As the story opens, the headmaster, at the private school where it has happened, views the tape. The story is then told through the alternating points of view of many characters: the boys and girl involved, their parents, friends, the police chief and the headmaster. What comes to light, eventually, are the reasons why the event occurs and the horrible aftermath, which results in one death, two divorces, one hollow marriage and the tattering of other lives. Shreve does a good job of sustaining the momentum as she quickly switches back and forth between the characters, moving the plot forward. The various voices sound like different people. She writes one point of view, that of Ellen, one of the mothers, all in second person. This has the effect of making Ellen's whole experience seem surreal and not really connected to her even though she knows about it. The result for the reader of all of these different points of view is that you see how many shades of gray there are in any event and with what fragility relationships hang together. One also sees how the decisions of adults, which may seem to have nothing to do with children, can also be devastating. Another theme is the idea that people are both more and less innocent than they seem.
 Couldn't put it down December 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are not many books that I pick up that I cannot put back down. Even some of Shreve's other titles have been a bit on the long side. But this one really got under my skin. It is believable. It is heartwrenching. It makes you angry with everyone in the book for not stepping up to the bat and changing the course of events. It makes you consider the far-reaching effects of bad decisions. So many people making bad decisions- some little decisions - some big decisions - and every one of them culminating in to a disaster.
Days after reading this book, I am still thinking about it. It was too real and too close to the truths of my own life.
Shreve is awesome.
Great book about poor choices December 28, 2008
This book was interesting in that it was told by many different voices all explaining some very poor choices.
The book was sad, the subject was sad and the characters were mainly unlikable. But, as Anita Shreve does so well, she draws you in and makes you hungry for more.
The book drives home the fact that a split second choice can forever change lives....choose carefully.
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